


Custody

by Alania_Black



Series: 366 fics for 2016 [3]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-04
Updated: 2016-01-04
Packaged: 2018-05-11 14:56:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5630635
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alania_Black/pseuds/Alania_Black
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The story of how Danny Williams-McGarrett and his Dom, Steve McGarrett, got custody of Grace.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Custody

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3 of my attempt to write/post a fic every day in 2016. 
> 
> This one is actually an older fic as well, part of the Master's Kiss universe. It preceeds Family, but there's nothing really spoilery - this is my take on Hawaii 5-0 if they lived in a Dom/sub society, and also if Danny and Steve got together, so the whole affair with Rachel didn't happen and their relationship remained more antagonistic.
> 
>  **Series note:**  
>  I am working on writing a fic every day of 2016, so I don't have time to re-edit each piece on the day (I have other things going on as well), however I have a strategy in place for editing the fics so there will be a polished version available soon. In the meantime, I'd appreciate it if you would not comment with typos and suchlikes until I've published the edited version.

Danny stood a little to the side, watching proudly as his Grace smiled to the crowd before leaning down and blowing out the candles on the cake in front of her. Eleven candles, for eleven years, and the thought of how fast his little girl has grown chokes him. His Dom, beside him as ever, squeezes his hand and smiles at him. The same burning pride shines from his eyes, even if he’s only known Danny’s daughter for two of those eleven years. As far as Steve’s concerned, when he collared Danny a year ago, she became his daughter as well.

Danny smiled softly at him in an uncharachteristic tender moment, before turning back to look at his flushed, joyful daughter, beaming as brightly as the Hawaii sun. Life, he thinks, doesn’t get much better.

An hour later, Danny was struck once more by how vindictive life could be.

“No, Rachel! I don’t see why you don’t understand this: under no circumstances am I about to let you uproot Grace and I and drag us all over to Nevada – Nevada, for fuck’s sake!”

“I have full custody of her, Danny – you only get to see her because I say you can. Don’t push me on this or you won’t see her again. Stan’s job is moving to Nevada, so we’re going, end of story.” Rachel said, her voice as firm and level as it always was.

As far as his ex-wife and ex-Domme was concerned, she had made her decision and that was that. She indulged Stan beyond belief, and if his new job was in Nevada, then as far as she was concerned, they could yank Grace up again and move her. Never mind that she’d only just really settled down in Hawaii, never mind that she woke with screaming nightmares for months after the last move. He’d never hated Rachel more than he did in that moment.

“We’ll fight this, Danny. We’ll get you a lawyer, a good one, and we’ll fight it. You have grounds to challenge her for custody, you’re a hero as far as the people here are concerned and you’ve got a powerful Dom on your side. We’ll win, then we’ll see what’s more important to Rachel – letting Stan go off to Nevada or staying with her daughter.”

Danny sniffed and nodded, pressing into his Dom’s arms and letting him take the weight for a while. If Steve said they could do it, they would.

And, shockingly, they did. The next day a court order came through restraining Rachel from taking Grace off the island, anywhere, and a court appointment was set up for a week away. It should have been longer, but with both Steve (and therefore the Govenor) and Stan (and therefore his millions) pushing for a quick trial, an opening was found. So, only a week after that perfect birthday, Danny was sat once more across from his ex as she tried to rip him apart as a father and a husband both. But this time, he wasn’t alone – this time he had Steve, and the weight of two years of saving Hawaii behind him.

He had considered, for a while, just fighting for joint custody. But the truth was that for the last six years, and especially the last two years while they lived in Hawaii, Rachel had been bitter, angry and vindictive. He was tired of her threatening to take Grace from him all the time, flaunting her custody in his face. She had accused him of putting the force before their daughter, of caring more for his work. But here she was, putting Stan ahead of their daughter and trying to rip their family apart. He wasn’t about to let that happen, not again.

The were meeting the Judge in a small room, just him and Rachel. She had never married Stan, prefering to keep her surname as Williams and keeping Stan as her collared submissive. Because of that, Stan wasn’t allowed to be present in the room, so Steve had agreed to stay outside as well. Rachel had spent over an hour now just putting forward her argument. Danny had only had one argument, which had been what he had put on the custody petition – Rachel had come loaded for bear with a dozen arguments, but she had so far only presented three.

“So, let me summarise your argument, Mrs Williams.” The Judge stated with efficient blandness when Rachel finally stopped talking. “Mr Williams-McGarrett, because he is a police officer, cannot offer your daughter the stability that you can. As a sub, you feel he could cause your daughter distress by being seen by her in an act of submission. And because you have had full custody of your daughter for the last six years, you don’t feel he could be a stable parent full time.”

“Yes, your Honor.” She replied, blandly. But the look she shot Danny was full of venom and smugness, she clearly thought she had won here.

“Now, here is where I have an issue with these arguments, Mrs Williams.” The Judge continued blandly. Rachel’s eyes widened, and her head shot over to him in surprise. “Argument number one: Mr Williams-McGarrett is part of a special task force in Hawaii, and is settled here. He has no plans to leave and there is no alternative job that he could take that would afford him the security this one does. Furthermore, he is only in Hawaii because he left a permanent job to stay with his daughter. You, on the other hand, are fighting for custody so you can uproot your daughter for the second time in two years and move her across the country. I have a report here from her psychologist, which states that she spent several months recovering from the move and another upheaval now, moving her from a place where she has friends and a support network, would cause further damage. The psychologist states clearly that she feels it would not be in Grace’s interests to move again, except possibly to return to her previous home and support network. Therefore, I find this argument not only invalid, but actually highlights a concern about you retaining custody of Grace.

“Argument two, I will not discuss this on the grounds that it is unlawful to consider a person’s dynamic when considering custody cases. However, considering your concern regarding Grace seeing Mr Williams-McGarrett in an act of submission, I would like you to consider that when I spoke to Grace this morning, she admitted that she has seen both her father and your current submissive in acts of submission, including situations that made her extremely uncomfortable, with _you_ as the dominant. She has never seen her father in an act of submission with Mr McGarrett. While I am not willing to consider yours or Mr Williams-McGarrett’s dynamic when making this decision, if you continue to push this I would be happy to consider your concerns about Grace being distressed by seeing submissives in an act of submission, however that argument would most certainly not go your way.

“Finally, argument three. I am willing to concede that you have had full legal custody for six years. In that time, Mr Williams-McGarrett has uprooted his own life to remain with his daughter when you moved, and has had regular visitations with Grace that you have arranged and agreed to, which indicates both his dedication to his daughter and your faith in his parenting. Furthermore, I have records here that you have taken regular holidays for several weeks at a time, and each time you have left Grace with Mr Williams-McGarrett, again indicating your faith in his parenting and his ability to care for Grace on a full time basis. Therefore, I find no merit in this argument. Do you have further arguments to present at this time, Mrs Williams?”

Rachel looked down at her notes, visibly shaken. Danny knew she had others, but he also knew that she had realised they would also be thrown out – and could go against her. She shook her head. “No, your Honor.”

“Thank you, I will considered your arguments. Mr Williams-McGarrett, you have put forward only one argument: you feel that it is not in Grace’s best interests for her to be moved, and having attempted to reason with Mrs Williams-McGarrett, you feel that you have no other option but to seek a new custody arrangement to prevent the move. You and your Dom have both agreed that if you have custody, you will continue to live in Hawaii and you will not relocate Grace until she is 18 years of age and old enough to support herself should she choose to remain here.”

“Yes, your Honor.”

“You have provided records from Grace’s psychologist, which I have here. Under normal circumstances, I would have requested that a court psychologist examine Grace and determine the accuracy of this testimony, however Mrs Williams was pushing for a trial as soon as possible and waived any request for a court psychologist’s examination, so I can only make use of this. Included in this report is a joint session with yourself, Mrs Williams and Grace, and the psychologist has noted that she made Mrs Williams aware that she did not feel it would be in Grace’s best interests to move her. Mrs Williams, do you agree that this discussion took place?”

Rachel’s face was stormy, and she was clearly unhappy with the turn of this situation, but she nodded grudgingly. “Yes, your Honor, but that conversation was two years ago. I felt that Grace had matured emotionally and would be capable of the move now.”

“I can understand that, however the report here indicates that Grace’s last meeting with the psychologist was only a month ago, and the psychologist maintains her position. Furthermore, she includes in here that the reason Grace has matured emotionally and is not showing any affects of the move is because of the strong support network she has built here in Hawaii, including both of you, your Submissive, Mr Williams-McGarrett’s Dom and husband, as well as your extended network, including all of Mr Williams-McGarrett’s team. It is unlikely such a situation would be repeated in the new location and this could once again cause Grace emotional distress. The psychologist states that your daughter is in a fragile stage of her emotional development right now, and has already had to cope with both the breakdown of her family from your divorce and from being removed from an extensive support system in the form of your family.”

“I understand that, but Grace is strong and she would cope. This is for the best for our family.”

“Mrs Williams, this is for the best for your sub. I have extensive evidence, from Mr Williams-McGarrett’s concerns, the psychologist’s report and my conversation with Grace herself, that this is not for the best for her. I have to consider Grace’s wishes in this matter. Frankly, Mrs Williams, Grace was extremely uncomfortable when I asked her who she would prefer to live with, until I asked her how she felt about moving with you to Nevada. She was extremely upset at the thought of moving and at the fact that she found out you were planning this move from a stranger, rather than from you yourself. I realise you haven’t seen her since, so you should be aware she was very upset by this.”

“You had no right to tell her!” Rachel snarled. Danny stared at her in shock.

“Rachel, you didn’t even tell her?”

“I was going to, but then all this started! I thought we should get this out of the way first, then I would tell her. You had no right to tell her about this.” She snapped.

“Mrs Williams, the only reason we are here is because Mr Williams-McGarrett is trying to get custody of Grace to prevent you from moving her away. Your parenting is not in question, there has been no citation of abuse or harm. When I spoke to Grace, which you have known all week was going to happen, the only question that really mattered to me was whether she wanted to move or not. Frankly, the fact that you haven’t told her about this does not work in your favour with me or with Grace.”

“But-.”

“No, Mrs Williams, I will not discuss this further. I only have one final question: what did you think Mr Williams-McGarrett would do, if you did move Grace?”

“Well, I thought he would follow us, like he did before.” She replied blankly.

“And Mr McGarrett?”

“Well, he has a job here. They’ve only been together a year, I thought he would just stay here and Danny would come with us.”

Danny sat back and blew out his breath in exasperated shock.

“You wanted me to leave my husband and Dom to follow you to Nevada?” Danny snapped. She shrugged.

“I don’t mind if you bring Steve as well.”

Danny gaped at her, unable to even being to respond. The Judge interrupted before he could.

“Mr Williams, I accept without reservation your argument that this move is not in Grace’s best interest and therefore this puts Mrs Williams-McGarrett’s custody of your daughter into question.” He looked between them both, and nodded decisively.

“In situations like this, where the child in question is old enough to understand, I always ask them who they would prefer to live with. I don’t make my decisions wholly based on this, but the information helps. When I asked Grace, she didn’t want to answer – which is what happens more often than not. However, when she then found out that if Mrs Williams retains custody, she would be moved to Nevada, Grace’s response was “I don’t want to live with my Mom, I want to stay here, please don’t let her have custody.” There was more, but a lot of it was emotional and I doubt she meant it. However, all things considered, I must agree that based on Grace’s wishes and best interests, and with no acceptable arguments from you, Mrs Williams, to the contrary, that Mr Williams-McGarrett would be Grace’s best option for custody.

“However, I must consider that Mrs Williams has had full and unquestioned custody of Grace for the last six years. So, my judgement is this: I am awarding full custody of Grace to Mr Williams-McGarrett for the next six months. Mrs Williams, if you wish to see your daughter, you will have to make arrangements privately with Mr Williams-McGarrett. Mr Williams-McGarrett, you will not change Grace's primary residence from Hawaii, nor allow her to be relocated, while you have primary custody until she is eighteen years of age.”

“Yes, your Honor.”

“At the end of this six month period, I will re-convene this custody case. If Mrs Williams is no longer residing full time in Hawaii, or has immediate plans to leave, full permanent custody will automatically be awarded to Mr Williams-McGarrett. If, however, Mrs Williams, you decide to stay in Hawaii and put your daughter’s best interests first, I will re-consider custody. This does not mean you will automatically get custody of Grace again, Mrs Williams – I will have her sit with a court psychologist, I will speak with her myself and I will carefully consider this situation and award custody as I believe will be in her best interests. That is the current ruling of this court.”

Danny sat back in shock, delight spreading through him as he realised that he had won. A smile spread slowly over his face, even as he recognised the building fury on Rachel’s.

“Mr Williams-McGarrett, your daughter is waiting outside. You can take her home now. Mrs Williams, I would like a private word, if you wouldn’t mind remaining.”

“Thank you, your Honor.” Danny gasped, and left the room, ignoring Rachel as she rose to speak.

Grace and Steve were both waiting outside, as was Stan. They all stood up as he came out, but he had eyes only for Grace. Her eyes were tear-stained, and she was sitting far from Stan, clearly not interested in talking to him. He smiled widely at her, and swept her up into a hug.

“Daddy?” Grace asked quietly. “Do I have to move again?” Danny just squeezed her, and looked up at Steve.

“I won, sweetheart. I have custody of you for now, while your mother decides what she wants to do. You’re not moving anywhere.”

Grace burst into tears, hugging Danny tightly. Steve stepped up beside him, and Danny drew him in to their embrace as well. His joy faded, replaced with anger at Rachel that his little girl was so upset, but that was easy to ignore in the face of his relief. The Judge was on their side and he had no doubts that, whatever would happen in six months, his family wasn’t going anywhere.

 


End file.
